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cc24
19
Aug 7, 2014
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Got my missing diodes and switches today. Took about 5 days from my first email to support to package arrival today. Finally have a full working board. Whether you're a novice or expert at soldering it's going to take a lot of patience to solder those SMD's.
cc24
19
Aug 8, 2014
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jeepTook me an entire weekend. This was my first soldering experience and wasn't to bad. I started with the surface mount diodes and the first 3 took me about an hour. But once you get in the groove you fly through the diodes. I used WhiteFireDragon's youtube technique where he tacks one side down then solders the other side. And by the time you finish soldering the diodes the rest of the parts will be a breeze.
Couple tips from a novice: 1) Be patient or you'll find your self cleaning up a lot of excess solder 2) A little solder goes a long way. If need be, you can always touch up with more solder after the parts are tacked in place 3) Quality control on the sourced parts are pretty good, almost always re-soldering will solve any malfunctions. If you have malfunctions with diodes, switches, Teensy, or micro- USB first check the orientation and re solder.
Couple tips from a novice: 1) Be patient or you'll find your self cleaning up a lot of excess solder 2) A little solder goes a long way. If need be, you can always touch up with more solder after the parts are tacked in place 3) Quality control on the sourced parts are pretty good, almost always re-soldering will solve any malfunctions. If you have malfunctions with diodes, switches, Teensy, or micro- USB first check the orientation and re solder.
ImaMoFoThief
48
Aug 9, 2014
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ArnoNymSoldering experience pre ergodox: partial assembly of one ergodox and complete rebuild of a poker 2 and a race.
Assembly time: ≈6 hrs, to solder 3 ergodox.
The worst part of the build was the soldering of the SMD. I only encountered one issue with with first half of 1 ergodox when I started the SMD. other 2 worked flawlessly.
The best was trimming the pins on the teensy and filing it down.
advice for stripping the wire is take a torch to the usb cable to soften the rubber to make cutting of the hard protection easier. after stripping the small wires tin them a bit so they don't fray around when inserting into the ergodox, solder them and keep heat on solder and pull the wire with tweezers and it will strip them as its pulled allowing for a clean looking connection with no bare wire showing. trim and file other side.
GENERAL ADVICE FOR OTHERS THAT DO NOT WANT TO DO SMD OR HAVE RUINED A PAD!
You can get a through hole diode and put it inside the switch and solder them to the other spots provided. To do this I suggest doing all other soldering (MCP, Teensy, Resistors and such). Then soldering the switches in place and then using the switch top opening slots to open each switch and install a diode and while your in there do any switch mods like lubing, spring swapping, and stickering (stickers are completely useless unless you are Korean and believe in useless stuff)
If anybody is looking for someone to solder their ergodox I do it for a small fee to cover costs (my solder) and time feel free to contact me on twitter @ImaMoFoThief
The worst part of the build was the soldering of the SMD. I only encountered one issue with with first half of 1 ergodox when I started the SMD. other 2 worked flawlessly.
The best was trimming the pins on the teensy and filing it down.
advice for stripping the wire is take a torch to the usb cable to soften the rubber to make cutting of the hard protection easier. after stripping the small wires tin them a bit so they don't fray around when inserting into the ergodox, solder them and keep heat on solder and pull the wire with tweezers and it will strip them as its pulled allowing for a clean looking connection with no bare wire showing. trim and file other side.
GENERAL ADVICE FOR OTHERS THAT DO NOT WANT TO DO SMD OR HAVE RUINED A PAD!
You can get a through hole diode and put it inside the switch and solder them to the other spots provided. To do this I suggest doing all other soldering (MCP, Teensy, Resistors and such). Then soldering the switches in place and then using the switch top opening slots to open each switch and install a diode and while your in there do any switch mods like lubing, spring swapping, and stickering (stickers are completely useless unless you are Korean and believe in useless stuff)
If anybody is looking for someone to solder their ergodox I do it for a small fee to cover costs (my solder) and time feel free to contact me on twitter @ImaMoFoThief
jeep
41
Aug 10, 2014
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ImaMoFoThiefI used this to teach my daughter to solder. We did it all in 5 hours with her doing most of the work. I've done a lot of soldering before, but was going to have to use borrowed equipment...and it turned out she did most of the soldering). I spent an hour or so trying to undo some errors.
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